How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange: A Guaranteed Income for Life (Wiley Trading) [Hardcover]

Courtney Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wiley Trading | Publication Date: February 2, 2010

Solid Forex strategies for capturing profits in today's volatile markets

How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange puts the world of Forex at your fingertips. Author Courtney Smith begins with an introduction to the Forex market-what it is and how it works. He then delves into six moneymaking techniques for trading Forex, including his unique Rejection Rule that doubles the profit of basic channel breakout systems. In addition to two specific methods for exiting positions at critical levels, Smith also discusses powerful risk management techniques and successful trading psychology strategies that will keep you one step ahead of the game.

• Reveals the secrets of the Forex market and how to create a lifetime of income trading it
• Offers advice on maximizing profits during the volatile swings that have increasingly become the norm
• Other titles by Smith: Option Strategies, Third Edition, Seasonal Charts For Futures Traders, Commodity Spreads, and Profits Through Seasonal Trading

Make more from today's Forex market with How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Foreign exchange is the most traded instrument in the world. It's not hard to understand why. Nobody needs to buy stocks, but because of today's extensive global trade we must all deal directly or indirectly with the forex world. Yet, while trading foreign exchange is one of the most exciting and potentially lucrative activities in the world, about 90 percent of traders lose money. In How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange, Courtney D. Smith provides a concrete and comprehensive approach to becoming a profitable forex trader.

Smith first explains all the basic information you need to know to get started in trading forex. He then introduces the tested, profitable techniques that will help you make money in the forex market, offering a variety of different methods to use over different time horizons—from those that look at the market from the perspective of days and weeks to those that hold positions for less than one day. Smith describes, for instance, a system that monitors the market from three different time perspectives and doesn't enter the market until all three are calling for an entry into the market.

He also details a new way to filter trades that eliminates about half of all losing transactions. And he tells how to sidestep the usual traps that drain money from your account using his method to identify short-term turning points and, more important, to identify major turning points. Smith concludes by showing you how all the techniques in the book fit together into a coordinated program for creating profits.

Throughout the book, the author stresses the two most important aspects of trading: risk management and trader psychology. How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange shows how to take risk management one step beyond and use it as an offensive weapon for enhancing profits. And perhaps, most important, it tells how to overcome the biggest block against making money in the markets: your own psychology. Whether you're a novice or a pro, says Smith, following the techniques in this book will turn forex trading into your ticket to financial freedom.

From the Back Cover

Praise for How To Make A Living Trading Foreign Exchange

"Courtney Smith has hit it out of the park with this book. Not only does he provide great insight into both the inner workings of the marketplace and original trading methodologies, but he also devotes much discussion to the often overlooked, immensely important aspects of trading such as money management, discipline, and psychology. After all, as he aptly opines, these are demons traders must slay to be successful."
—Tom Demark, Founder, Market Studies, Inc.

"I learned a long time ago if Courtney Smith writes it, I readit. Glad I did. I picked up three great insights in my first read-through."
—Larry Williams, author of Trade Stocks and Commodities with the Insiders, The Right Stock at the Right Time, Day Trade Futures Online, and Long-Term Secrets to Short-Term Trading

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (February 2, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470442298
• ISBN-13: 978-0470442296
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #481,891 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #100 in Books > Business & Investing > International > Foreign Exchange

More About the Author

Courtney Smith is the Chairman of the Investment Mentoring Institute, an organization devoted to building great investors. The Investment Mentoring Institute provides training and mentoring for individual and institutional investors in stocks, futures, and foreign exchange.

Courtney Smith is also President and Chief Investment Officer of Courtney Smith & Co, Inc. which manages money for institutions, family offices, and high-net individuals.

He is also the CEO and Chairman of Greater China Technology, Inc. a company which outsources software development to China.

He was the Chief Investment Officer and Chief Strategist of Orbitex Management, Inc. during the late 1990's. Orbitex manages mutual funds and portfolios for institutions and individuals.

He was the editor of Courtney Smith's Wall Street Winners newsletter. This popular investment advisory newsletter ranked number one in performance by the Hulbert Digest.

Mr. Smith is the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Commodity Trading Consumer Research (CTCR). CTCR has been providing insights to the futures community since 1983.

Previously, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Quantum Financial Services, Inc., a futures and stock brokerage firm. Mr. Smith was First Vice President and Treasurer of the New York branch of Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI), a Swiss bank. At BSI, Mr. Smith managed mutual funds, client accounts, and was responsible for the trading activities of the New York branch as well as trading and marketing fixed income and foreign exchange derivatives for the entire bank. He was also responsible for the funding and balance sheet of the branch.

Mr. Smith was previously Group Vice President in charge of Financial Derivatives at the French bank Banque Paribas, New York, and was Vice President and a Director of Research and Commercial Services for PaineWebber, Inc. Mr. Smith managed client accounts prior to joining PaineWebber.

Mr. Smith is the author of six books, including Profits Through Seasonal Trading, (John Wiley & Sons, 1980), Commodity Spreads (John Wiley & Sons, 1981 and Traders Press, 1989), How To Make Money In Stock Index Futures (McGraw-Hill, 1985, paperback edition 1988), Seasonal Charts For Futures Traders (John Wiley & Sons, 1987), and Option Strategies (John Wiley & Sons, 1987, 2nd Edition 1996). Mr. Smith is also the author of chapters in several books.

He is on the board of directors of several unaffiliated corporations.

Mr. Smith has been a featured speaker at investment conferences throughout North America and Europe. He has appeared on over 1000 TV shows since on such national television shows as Wall Street Journal Report, and Moneyline as well as other shows on CNBC, Fox News, Bloomberg, CNN, and CNNfn.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for people who already have money, July 13, 2010

By 

L. Bell - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange: A Guaranteed Income for Life (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

This is an interesting read with some solid methods for trading forex. My biggest complaint is that it only talks about positon (long term) trading based on the daily charts, and has almost nothing about day trading. Position trading is fine if you have a large amout of capitol and can withstand some major drawdowns, but the majority of traders are starting with much less money. The author has been a professional trader for many years, and at least this is a book written by someone who actually does make money consistently and has a long term track record of success. The methods presented are successful in the long run if your account can withstand losing hundreds of pips 45% of the time.

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paid for itself on the 1st trade, November 12, 2010

By 

D. Snyder (Waconia, MN) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange: A Guaranteed Income for Life (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

If you are looking to investment in the Forex market then this is a good starting point.

WHAT THIS BOOK IS:
1) A complete set of trading strategies with entry and exit points laid out clearly. Although you have to pay some attention to what is being said because there are a couple of 'mis-statements' that won't make sense until you realize they are editting errors and/or typos.

2) A long-term way of investing your money in a reasonably conservative fashion.

3) A good way of earning 5+% return per month on your capital.

WHAT THIS BOOK IS NOT:
1) A day trader's bible. All strategies are based on daily and weekly price movements.

2) A get rich quick scheme. Face the facts, making 5+% per month is pretty darn good. Anyone who promises more is full of what we hauled out of the calf pens when I was growing up.

Yes, all the strategies are probably available for free 'somewhere' on the internet. But for a couple of bucks you get it all in one spot.

I have 1+ years experience trading Forex and in the months of September and October 2010 I made 5+% per month using only the strategies in this book.

Would I recommend this to a friend - Yes

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ideas Worth Testing, March 9, 2011

By 

M. Morris - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Make a Living Trading Foreign Exchange: A Guaranteed Income for Life (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

What the author shares are ideas worth testing. For example, while the inside lemonade trade works well on some markets, it doesn't work at all on others. This is typical of any strategy, and my point is you need to back test these ideas. To further my point, Inside Days works on some currency pairs, and Inside Lemonade works on some currency pairs ... not necessarily the same currency pairs. Inside Days might work on one pair, but the lemonade trade doesn't work on the same pair. You should program each trade individually and give each trade a test on each pair to find what works and where it works.

Surprisingly, I didn't find the Reversal Day setup to be profitable on any pairs. The Reversal Lemonade works on a few.

Channel Breakout, using the typical 55/20 that Courtney also suggests in the book, doesn't work on a single currency pair. I see the potential of this trade though, with a better stop ... I'll be reprogramming it to exit on fractals using a shorter time frame than the time frame on which I entered on a channel breakout. I did find 90/90 works on some pairs with 30 minute bars.

Regardless of whether one of Courtney's specific trade setups work, the best thing to take away from this book are his ways of thinking:

1. His approach to psychology is great and can be summed up quickly: Consider yourself to be a casino, with the market as the gambler at your card table, and your trade setup as your card game. You lose some, win some, and overall you take home a profit. No need to freak out and yell at the monitor when a trade isn't making money. Play your hand and then play the next hand.

2. Program numerous trade setups that are based on a fundamentally sound idea. For example, inside days and reversal days, as well as reversal lemonade and inside lemonade, are all fundamentally sound, although they are not all profitable on all pairs. Start with something that works fundamentally. Program it, backtest it, throw out the ones that don't work, and forward test the trades that do work. Don't expect any trade to work on every pair. Trade it where it works.

3. Once you see it works even in forward testing, such as with a demo account or a small live account using micro pips, then open a larger live account and let it work for you.

Personally, I wouldn't get caught up in paying anyone to coach you to trade, which seems to be the end goal of this book. There are also a lot of typos that can seriously confuse you if you don't pay a lot of attention to what you're reading. I found them while highlighting and working through sections. Courtney says at the end of the book you can go to his website to ask a question, but I've never received a single answer. Lack of follow through and some trades that don't even work = 4 stars.